


i'd burn this city down to show you the light

by wiselyandslow



Series: fnl drabbles [2]
Category: Friday Night Lights
Genre: Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26385037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wiselyandslow/pseuds/wiselyandslow
Summary: Most people who see Tyra’s fire run for their lives. Some try to put it out.
Relationships: Landry Clarke/Tyra Collette
Series: fnl drabbles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911154
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	i'd burn this city down to show you the light

Landry.

Landry is a surprise.

At first it’s a form of repayment.

She sits next to him at state and (just barely) shares her nachos and waves at him in the hallway with one of those noncommittal tight-lipped smiles as a thanks for those scrawny, sleeved arms—the ones that wrapped around her, tightly, that night everything almost came crashing down. (Oh, who is she kidding? They did come crashing down. But he was there. He was there when nobody else was there. And that simple truth applies to their whole relationship—friendship?— _thing_ , when she thinks about it.)

She throws him a bone because she feels bad and it’s the least she can do for bringing him into her mess.

But then.

Then the thoughts start coming. The glint of his fiery hair in the afternoon sun; one of his stupid jokes that's actually so funny she doesn't want to tape his mouth shut for once; his smile, boyish and awkward, but uncaringly, unabashedly real. 

They scare and startle her, because Tyra does not think about boys like that—at best, when they keep their mouths shut, they’re good fun; at worst, they’re the reason Tyra sometimes wants to set a building on fire.

More importantly, Tyra does not think about Landry Clarke like that—because he’s Landry Clarke for God’s sake. He’s a nobody—no, he’s less than a nobody.

Tyra convinces herself that it’s some kind of delusion, that it’s because she’s all screwed up now from all the stuff that’s gone down that she can’t even think straight.

But she gets drunk one night when her mom’s out with a friend and Mindy’s taking an extra shift. And all she can think about as she stretches her lithe body over their beat up couch that’s too short for her legs to fit is that she wishes he were here. And that’s when Tyra knows.

She’s a firm believer, you see, that alcohol strips away everyone’s mask. (Her daddy left after what she guesses was an enlightening night at his favorite bar. The days leading up to it had been a flurry of badly veiled scowls, of angry but terse words. All it took was a beer or two to completely wash out his already fading will to try.) And as she sits there, this unfamiliar weight on her chest she later reluctantly recognizes as longing… She knows. She knows she’s in trouble.

Because here’s the thing. 

Most people who see Tyra’s fire run for their lives. Some try to put it out. But Landry does neither of those. He stands back and marvels, stokes it even, until, for the first time, Tyra feels like she can tear her way out of Dillon with nothing but a trail of light blazing behind her. 

_You make me feel too much_ , she says to him.

_Hope too much_ , she thinks, later, when she’s all alone. 

**Author's Note:**

> yea... i think about them a lot.   
> thanks for reading! feedback is my favorite thing.


End file.
